Union 1862: A couple of interesting battles yesterday.

[Didz]

I fought two small battles yesterday both of which proved interesting as they differed from the usual recipe of grey clad waves breaking on blue defences, and they were pretty much the two sides of the same coin in terms of tactical challenge.

The Battle of St Joseph - A meeting engagement in a snow storm.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3382964521
The first was a meeting engagement between Brigadier General William Carlin's Department of Illinois (7,567 men and 11 guns) and the Confederate Armies of West reported to comprise 5,306 men and 59 guns.

Carlin had been pursuing the Army of the West with dogged determination across northern Missouri for some time wading through deep snow on appalling roads and with totally inadequate provisions. He had contemplated turning back on numerous occasions but sheer bloody minded stubbornness had kept him and his men going. After all the snow was as deep for the Rebels as it was for his men and he wanted to drive the Rebels out of Missouri once and for all.

He finally caught up with them at St. Joseph on the Missouri River and after days of sniping and skirmishing they finally turned and offered battle.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3382969688
The initial deployment of Carlin's forces was on the eastern map edge, with Confederate supply lines marked on the North-Western and South-Western map edges and a single victory point way over on the South Western side of the map.

Carlin reasoned that the Rebs could actually be waiting anywhere along the road between his current position and the VP, although logic suggested they would be dug in deep at the victory point.

A Slow Cautious Advance.

The advance of Carlin's forces was painfully slow partly due to the deep snow which made any movement off the roads difficult, but also because the limited visibility of the snow storm

The 5th Ohio Cavalry Brigade took point mainly because it was the only brigade with enough troopers to detach a scouting patrol.

The advance settled into a slow well practised rhythm with the 5th Ohio moving ahead and exploring the road out to the limit of existing visibility. Then the rest of the cavalry moved forward and deployed either side of the road.

This was followed by the artillery which used the road to close up behind the cavalry in support and then the infantry slogged it's way forward to deploy either side of the artillery.

Once settled the 5th Ohio were ordered forward again to the edge of existing visibility and the process was repeated. Thus the Department of Illinois gradually advanced along Ballard's Road towards the VP at Smiths Farmstead.

The only slight variation was when the road was flanked by thick woodland whereupon the infantry detached skirmishers to scour the woods looking for a Confederate ambush amongst the tree's

First Contact

First contact with the enemy was heard rather than seen. The sudden bang of a cannon announcing that a party of skirmishers who were scouting the headwaters of Robson;s Creek had been spotted by an eagle eyed Rebel artillery officer. However, neither the skirmishers crouching in the stream nor anyone else could see the Rebel gun that fired the shot. Nevertheless, it confirmed that at least part of the Rebel force was ensconced in and around Smiths Farm. The skirmishers in the stream kept their heads down and Carlin' ordered up his own artillery, They may not be able to see the Rebel guns but the continued fire was leaving a clear cloud of powder smoke and perhaps his artillery could bombard the area around it's location.

The Rebel Flank Attack Is Discovered.

It was as Buford's artillery were finally deploying to begin their tentative bombardment that an urgent message from the 2nd Missouri Brigade positioned on the extreme right of the line alerted Carlin that there were Rebels approaching his right flank along the farm track from Blomner's Farm.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3383209093
This was not a total surprise as Carlin had noted that there was a supply point on the North Western Edge of the map and had half expected at least part of the Rebel force to arrive from that direction. It was in fact the reason that skirmishers from the 2nd Missouri Brigade had been placed on the edge of the the woodland covering the Robson's Hills to watch in that direction.

The Rebs Walk Into A Trap

Determined not to end up fighting on two fronts Carlin immediately ordered Buford's artillery to cancel their planned bombardment of Smiths Farm and instead to move to the right and provide support for the 2nd Missouri Brigade
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3383214398
At the same time the cavalry were ordered to cross Ballards Creek and engage the left flank of the Confederate Column which was still trying to stick to the road. The 2nd Missouri Brigade blocked their advance pouring fire into the leading unit of enemy cavalry, whilst the rest of the Illinois Infantry waded through the snow and tree's across the Robson's Hills to attack the enemy left.

The Confederate column suddenly discovered that it had marched into a trap and had its head in a noose. With cavalry pouring rapid rifle fire into its right flank and infantry pouring fire into the head of the column.

At first the Rebels tried to bringing up artillery and more infantry to try and bully their way through the 2nd Missouri Brigade that was blocking their path. But it soon became apparent that with Union cavalry armed with repeating carbines pouring fire into their flanks that was not going to work. The trouble was that nobody was going anywhere in a hurry as the snow was too deep.

The Final Roll Of The Dice

The Rebels finally managed to extricate their leading units from the trap, although they had to abandon their guns in the road as the gunners panicked and ran.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3383223316
They managed to form a battle line opposite the Union Cavalry, who by now were struggling to maintain their rate of fire as their ammunition pouches became empty.

Fortunately, by now Wallace and his three brigades of Illinois infantry had finally managed to struggle over the Robson Hills and were emerging from the tree's directly across the Confederate left flank.

In a final roll of the dice Tappari's Confederate Brigade tried to advance against the the rear of the Union cavalry but their advance stalled as soon as the Union cavalry turned their fire upon them and at that point most of the Confederate units began to break and run.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3383233321
The one exception was a single brigade which stood its ground and was distinguished by a Southern Cross Style Battle Flag. It stood its ground defiantly for some time afterwards under a hail of carbine, rifle and artillery fire taking terrible casualties until it finally wilted and disappeared.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3383234848

Major Victory

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3383235700
Union Losses: 579 men Confederate Losses: 2800 men.

[Didz]

The Battle of Fort Torbert

The second battle was fought the same day and was pretty much the opposite of The Battle Of St.Joseph.

The Confederates of Anderson's Corps (11,000 men and 45 guns) had been besieging Fort Torbert, one of the forts I've built to protect St. Louis, for several days and actually captured it once and then lost it again.

Eventually the Army of the Ohio supported by Buell's Department of Ohio totalling 33,977 men and 57 guns decided that enough was enough and launched an assault upon their siege works determined to drive them off.

The delay had been caused by a lack of Readiness as both McClellan and Buell were struggling with the weather, feeling the cold and would not attack. Scott had even withdrawn the Army of the Mississippi out of St.Louis in order to find somewhere warm and quiet to rest.

A Somewhat Different Challenge.

Unlike the Battle of St-Joseph where the AI had two supply points and a single VP to protect, the Battle of Fort Torbert was the reverse where I was given two supply points and deployment zones (One for the Army of Ohio and one for Buells' Department of Ohio) and a single VP to protect.

I decided that logically the VP must represent the fort and so I used the large number of fortification points I was given to construct parapets around the VP and placed all of McClellan 'a artillery in it to represent the fort. The rest of the Army of Ohio was deployed in support of this fortification to await the Confederate attack.

The complication was that the Department of Ohio was arriving on the battlefield via the other supply point. Which would not have been a huge problem except that the road they were arriving on was on the other side of an estuary which represented an impassible obstacle between the two Union Forces.

In order to reach Fort Torbert, Buells army was going to have to march around this estuary which extended almost to the centre of the map, and the likelihood was that it was going to run into Anderson's Corps on the way.

A nail biting encounter

This battle was so intense that I actually forgot to take screenshots of it. Which is a bit of shame. I've tried to find a copy of the battlefield map with a view to using it to describe the tactical situation but so far I've been unsuccessful.

However, the tactical situation and challenge was quite simple,

1. Buell's Department of Ohio needed to reach Fort Torbert and link up with the Army of the Ohio.
   
2. To reach Fort Torbert it would need to follow the road to the central road junction near the middle of the map and then turn north to march to Fort Torbert.
   
3. However the Rebels were almost certainly going to reach the road junction at about the same time as Buell's force and so there was a danger that Buell would end up fighting his own independent action in the middle of the map without McClennans support
   
4. The challenge then was to unite the two Union forces without getting drawn into a major battle in the centre of the map.

McClenna's plan.

The solution chosen by McClellan was to dispatch Custer's Cavalry Division south to screen the road junction in the centre of the map with orders to delay or fend off the approaching Confederates long enough for Buell's Army to reach the junction and use it to march north to Fort Torbert.

It seemed easy enough but as expected the Confederates began appearing south of the road junction long before Buell's ar,my struggling along the muddy road even reached it.

Fortunately, with the snowy weather the Confederates were as tied to the roads as Buell's forces and so took ages to deploy once they encountered Custer's cavalry screen blocking their passage.

Custer's men were able to hold the woods that surrounded the central road junction long enough for the first of Buell's infantry Brigades to reach them and now the Confederates found their passage blocked by both infantry and cavalry.

Buell's artillery reached the road junction and immediately headed north towards Fort Torbert. The woods prevented them contributing any support to the union screening forces and they were the slowest unit on the road.

With Buell's artillery finally clear and heading for the Fort the tricky process of organising a controlled withdrawal began.

The Controlled Withdrawal

This is the first time I've actually had to try and disengage and withdrawn from battle. So, i was curious how well it would work.

It was essentially the reverse of the leap-frogging tactic's that Carlin employed to advance in the Battle of St.Joseph and I was quite impressed at how well the game handled it.

The first unit to disengage was Custer's Cavalry, who had done an excellent job in delaying the Confederates but now fell back slowly through the woods and conducted a passage of lines with Buell's 1st Infantry Division.

The Confederates noting the sudden slackening of resistance immediately pushed forward into the wood only to run into massed rifle fire from Buell's infantry.

Here I discovered an interesting fact that is worth noting. 'The AI seems to find it difficult to spot troops that are laying down. i had never noticed this before, and I'm not sure if its a quirk of the snowy weather, but the Rebel units seemed to walk straight into Buell's infantry laying in the snow and took huge casualties when the Ohio infantry suddenly stood up right in front of them and began pouring rifle fire into them. They also lost two artillery batteries simply by rushing them blindly down the road into my hidden infantry. It's a neat trick worth noting for the future.

What followed then was a series of reverse leap-frogs as Buell's men withdrew slowly along the road towards Fort Torbert. The 2nd Division deployed behind the 1st Division and lay down in the snow,

The 1st Division fell back through the 2nd conducting a passage of lines and deploying at about long rifle range to their rear and laying down.

The AI rushed it's troops along the road hoping to catch the rear-guard of the 1st Division and ran straight into the 2nd division laying in the snow waiting for them. there would be a viscous exchange of fire that blew away the leading unit of the Confederate column and they would begin to deploy to face the new threat.

Then the 2nd Division would simply break contact and withdraw through the 1st division and the process would be repeated.

The Aborted Attack

This process continued all along the road towards Fort Torbert.

In the end it seems that Anderson simply lost confidence in his ability to continue the battle and I got the message 'The Enemy is Retreating'.

It was a sensible decision by the AI.

They were outnumbered anyway and the rate at which they were bleeding men trying to force their way through the successive Union rearguards to even reach Fort Torbert meant that they were hardly going to have the ability to take it, even if they managed to reach it.

But I really found the battle interesting and was most impressed with the way the game handled the detailed tactical movements I asked it to perform. By deciding to retreat when he did Anderson at least preserved his command and avoided further losses, and his men retreated in good order.

A Minor Victory

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3383516129
Union Losses: 579 men Confederate Losses: 2,800 men

[Wenatchee Willie]

An interesting read. Thank you.

[Excalibrrr]

That was fun to read

[Didz]

Glad you enjoyed it.

This was a report from my ongoing Union 1861 Campaign. St,Joseph has since been recaptured by the Confederacy forcing Carlin's Illinois Militia to abandon the port and escape back St Louis by riverboat.

However, Fort Torbert is still in Rebel hands and there is now a massive siege taking place in St. Louis to try and drive the Confederates out of the rest of the city.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3393940782
Unfortunately, the Rebels burned the St.Louis Armoury before they abandoned it so at the moment the Union armies of Mississippi and Potomac that are besieging the last of the towns defenders are running low on artillery ammunition. I need to build another supply depot nearby.